Be My Leviathan

1.
who needs dry land when
I have a mouth full of foam
hissing like the sea, my static
can overrun any shore

there’s no wall I can’t seep through
given time, allowed persistence

2.
size is a survival strategy–
I roll over and the water rolls
with me, rolls from me
I fear no waves
and there’s no beach
wide enough for me to break upon

3.
make way for me
no engine can outrun my swells
no prow can split my belly

I’m a collector of shipwrecks:
I love the hull cracked and spilling sailors,
socks, toothpaste, thousands of keychains

what makes its way towards me, I keep

Stacey Gruver is a poet and artist who lives and works in Baltimore. In 2014, she was a recipient of the Maryland Individual Artists Award. Her work has appeared in Strange Horizons, Eye to the Telescope, and The Puritan.